Incident outside of shoe store spurs slip-and-fall claim

A Philadelphia woman who claims she sustained bodily injuries after falling on a wet tarpaulin outside of a city shoe store is suing the business.

Philadelphia attorney Scott R. Gallant, of the firm Gallant & Parlow, P.C., filed the slip-and-fall lawsuit Aug. 3 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Paula Weaver.

The defendants listed in the claim are Sneaker Villa, which operates the store where the alleged incident took place, located at 4 S. 52nd St., and the store’s parent company, Reading, Pa.-based Sneaker Villa, Inc.

According to the lawsuit, Weaver was walking on the outside of the store one day in late August 2009 when she suddenly slipped and fell due to a tarpaulin that was placed over the sidewalk to protect the defendant’s merchandise from inclement weather.

The tarpaulin had become wet by the time Weaver stepped on it.

As a result of her fall, Weaver sustained injuries to the “muscles, blood vessels, nerves, tendons, connective tissues, skin, bones and organs of her body,” the lawsuit claims.

Weaver also claims she sustained serious knee injuries as well as a shock to her nervous system, the lawsuit states. She also continues to suffer great bodily pain, mental anxiety and nervousness, “to her great detriment and loss.”

As a result of her injuries, the lawsuit states, Weaver has had to spend large sums of money on medicine and medical attention to correct and treat her injuries. She has also suffered an “interruption of her daily habits and pursuits to her great and permanent detriment and loss.”

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of carelessness and negligence for permitting a hazardous condition to exist on its property, failing to inspect the area for defects and/or dangerous conditions, failing to warn the plaintiff and others of the dangerous condition, failing to properly maintain the premises, and failing to properly install the temporarily roofing that fell and caused the plaintiff’s fall.

Weaver demands judgment against the defendants, individually, jointly and/or severally, in an amount not in excess of $50,000, plus interest, delay damages and other court costs.

The non-jury matter has been scheduled for an arbitration hearing on April 5, 2012.